By Prudence Minayo
Daniel Njenga is an engineer with experience in servicing machines, gym equipment, and shower installations among other things.
He is the founder of Daniels Elite Engineering a company which in a past interview with KTN, he revealed started with Ksh100,000.
At the time, he hoped to expand the business and have offices around and outside the country. He also hoped to be able to employ more people.
Freelancing
Before establishing his business, he worked as a freelancer. He would be contracted by people or companies and realized he was making a lot of money for them. Being a freelancer meant he did not have an office and could not directly make deals with clients. The amount of money he earned at the time was also little.
Training and Daniels Elite Engineering
He felt he was ready to go into the business since he had the experience and had also developed skills in the course of freelancing. He had worked at Sportsview Hotel in Kasarani as a maintenance technician for three years. At this time, he was self taught with no formal training.
However, he got to do a course
at the Nairobi Aviation College and was among the beneficiaries of Kenya Commercial Bank’s Tujiajiri program. The one-week training program equipped the participants with a lot of beneficial skills and they felt empowered afterwards.
The program taught them about starting a business with little capital and the challenges that came with business.
He was also given a Sh90,000 no collateral loan. Adding to his Sh10,000 savings, he invested in his company, Daniel Elite Engineering.
The company services and maintain machines for various clients including gyms. At the beginning, he started small and did not even have all the needed equipment.
His services were, however, exceptional
and clients enjoyed it. He has marketed the business through word of mouth, visiting prospective clients and social media.
Challenges
One of his challenges, like many other entrepreneurs, was capital. He had to start with what he had and work hard knowing it is only through the business that he could make money as there was no monthly salary.
The other challenge was since it was a service, one has to personally be there. Unlike products which can just be shipped, this one requires a person to travel and at times clients are in different towns and cities.
His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs was that they should start small and grow the business. That way, it would be easier to mitigate losses.